Stand and Deliver
by Harri83
Summary: A confused and injured Alex. A recognisable Gene but not the one we know. A whole cast of supporting characters who we know well - but can Alex work any of it out. She knows something is amiss but can't put her finger on it! If historical romance isn't your thing - I'd say give this a go anyway - you never know, you might like it. (Not M straight away it will get there though)
1. Take the Long Way Home

**Gene, Alex etc are not mine I just like making up fun scenarios for them (although there's probably not going to ONLY be fun in this fic!)**

**I apologise in advance if there end up being some EXTREME hiatus' (what the hell is the plural of hiatus?) on this fic - I have 6 chapters written, I will probably post 1 and 2 quite close together then the others once a week (in the vain hope that I can keep ahead of myself). My job is crazy busy so there may be gaps, hopefully you'll like this enough to bear with me and wait.**

**This isn't the kind of stuff I usually write but I'm loving doing it so I hope you enjoy it. Reviews so I know if it's worth it would be lovely!**

**Chapter 1 - Take the Long Way Home**

Alex fought her way slowly back to consciousness, the heavy weight of somnolence threatening to pull her back at any second, into the comforting arms of sleep. Her mind grasped; there was something, a reason she must wake up. She fought harder, determined to shake off her confusion, determined to find focus, to remember why it was so important that she come round.

"Now, don't you worry yourself Miss," the voice was kindly but she didn't recognise it. "You just get your rest and you'll be right as rain in no time, just see if you ain't."

Two small lines of concentration appeared between Alex's brows and in the next second she was struggling simultaneously to sit up and to open her eyes; the latter a feat proving well nigh impossible at present. A searing pain ripped through her left side and abdomen and she gasped in shock at the pain. Strong hands pushed her back down into a soft bed and brushed over her face, effectively keeping her eyes closed.

"Keep her comfortable, I've applied a dressing and I'll be back to check on it. Try to get her to eat something and some sweet tea or brandy should help with the shock." This was a man's voice. A doctor maybe? He'd mentioned a dressing. Was she in hospital? Why couldn't she remember anything? Why couldn't she fight this need to sleep? Why….

_A bang. A feeling of something alien ripping through her body. No pain, not right away. She must be in shock, the proper, clinical kind. She was surprised to realise that she could appraise her own situation so dispassionately. Her hand went to the wound, her face the picture of astonishment, wide-eyed and staring, blood pouring between her fingers. From the bullet wound. It was a bullet wound! She'd been shot._

_ A face. His face. She couldn't hear what he was saying all sound drowned by the blood rushing in her ears as she fell to the floor, eyes closing._

In her dream world and the real world she had been struggling to reach, Alex allowed oblivion to claim her. She was so very, very tired and everything was just too confusing.

Some hours later, she was awoken by the sensation of something cold and clammy being placed on her forehead. A low sweet voice sang as what must be a damp flannel was gently patted back and forth across her brow.

This time her eyes opened and her field of vision was filled by white apron over a dark blue dress. She smiled to herself, as her eyes slipped closed again. Seemed her nurse was a sister or matron, she must be seriously hurt to warrant that level of attention on the NHS!

"Oh Miss, don't go back to sleep! Doctor says you've to stay awake and try to eat something. I've got brandy here, purely medicinal of course."

Alex frowned. Something was amiss. Surely nurses didn't go around doling out alcohol even in the early eighties. There was something else too. That noise. What on earth was that noise? Oh God it was the crackling of a fire. Had she died? Was she in hell? Was she somewhere else about to burn to death? If she could just remember her name, that'd be a help. And what was that she'd just been thinking about brandy?

Turning her head to where she thought the crackling was coming from she opened her eyes again and was relieved to see a fire of wood and coal firmly and safely situated in a hearth with a frankly magnificent mantelpiece surrounding it. Surely that was strange. She'd thought she was somewhere else, somewhere where she was sure there were no fires in hearths.

The further she progressed into the conscious world the more confused she got. Turning to the woman who was even still bathing her forehead she stared long and hard. The woman was familiar but she didn't know why.

"Where am I?" she asked, desperately trying to keep the tremor from her voice. She could remember neither her name nor anything about herself. There were tantalisingly fleeting glimpses on the edge of her thoughts. Images, words, names that she couldn't quite grasp and it began to infuriate her.

With a jerk she pulled herself up on the pillows, falling back against them with a whimper as a pain seared again through her left side. She remembered the pain. What had happened?

"Ohh, oh Miss Alexandra you mustn't!" he companion sounded panicked. "Please, Miss, you have to stay still. Your Mama will have my guts for garters so she will and you open up your wound or give yourself a fever! Please Miss, you knocked your head as well as giving yourself that nasty wound, you're not fit to be up and about."

Alex stared again. Who on earth was this woman? She could see now that she was small and elderly but with remarkable strength in the skinny little arms that were now restraining her, quelling her attempts to sit up again. Alex took in everything about her, the white apron that was actually rather grubby, the long, long skirt which obviously covered plenty of petticoats. It all seemed strange yet familiar at the same time.

A sudden memory came to her and she leapt out of bed, pushing the 'nurse' off of her.

"I have to go to him she gasped. He didn't mean it."

Her carer looked bewildered as Alex staggered a couple of steps before clutching her side and sinking in a dead faint one word dropping from her lips as she fell to the floor,

"Gene."

**Would you _like_ chapter 2 soonish or is no-one actually bothered? Let me know :P**


	2. Curiouser and Curiouser

Well, as promised, here's part 2. I'm afraid there's a bit more scene setting here but hopefully there's enough action in the second part of the chapter to keep you amused. TWO MONTHS LATER

Alex sighed heavily and tried to ignore the fussing of Elsie her maid (and until recently nurse), as she straightened the room and eyed her in a thoroughly disapproving way. The little old woman had given up trying to give her mistress any advice but she couldn't help the worry she felt for her. If the girl (to her she'd always be a girl) could just try to act a little more _normally_ she'd find things so much easier but it seemed Ms. Alexandra wanted no part of her advice so she set her mind to doing what she could to make the poor chit a tad more comfortable.

Draped across a chair, her legs hanging over one arm Alex stared lethargically at the fire, watching it slowly consume a large section of log which Elsie had just added. She only wished the fire was big enough to hurl herself into and have done with it. To say that she was having an unpleasant day would be a matter of the grossest understatement. In fact, in the two months since she'd woken to learn of her fall from her horse whilst riding on the family estate, she doubted there'd been a single day that she could actually describe as anything approaching good! Today however, had definitely elbowed its way to the top of the list as far as utterly disagreeable and wretched days went!

She shifted her position; noting that Elsie immediately moved to assist her, thinking she was rousing herself to dress for dinner. She waved the servant off, much to Elsie's consternation. She would have to dress soon she knew but the thought filled her with dread and the knot in her stomach made it clear that eating was not going to be an easy feat to accomplish this evening. Sighing again she thought back over the day, her mind skipping inexorably back, to immediately after breakfast when she had been summoned to her father's study.

Having first set eyes upon her parents after the accident she'd experienced the strangest of feelings. She knew them immediately yet at that stage could not say _who _they were. It having been spelled out for her eventually she'd felt in her bones that it was right. The long thin nose and high nostrils of her mother which gave her a slightly haughty yet not unkind look, were at once achingly familiar yet still in some way strange to her. The soft lines of her father's face, hiding an intense and serious nature had the same effect. She had no doubt that they were indeed her parents but she did wish that she had at least one memory of them.

This had been the feeling she'd been pondering in Papa's study this morning whilst she awaited his presence; at least she'd begun to ponder it once her annoyance had subsided. Something deep within her, she wasn't sure what or why, rankled considerably at being summoned in this fashion and then made to wait. As man of the house he was well within his rights to ask his daughter to speak with him at his leisure but she just couldn't escape the irritation that arose in her.

She'd opened up the ledger on Papa's desk and plonked herself down in the chair, leafing idly through it. The economics of running their considerable estate held no real interest for her and she'd been very much lost in her own thoughts, not even bothering to look at the pages. Her father had entered, hastily adjusting his starched grey wig as he came, a sure sign that _something_ was on his mind, she'd learned that much already.

He had stopped abruptly as his eyes lighted upon her and he had consciously taken a breath before he spoke. It had done little to quell his annoyance at this latest display of immoderate behaviour from his daughter.

"Alexandra," he had said in tones containing sufficient ice to freeze the fastest flowing of rivers, "whilst I recognise, in fact cannot escape, the fact that since your accident you have not been quite in possession of your full faculties, I can assure you, whether you remember it or not, that I have never brooked this kind of insolence from you, nor such blatant disregard for your place in my household."

Alex had stared at him dumbly. For some reason since she'd woken she'd found prolonged speeches like this took some concentration to be intelligible to her. His speech had, however, left her in no doubt whatsoever that she had managed to displease him again. She dearly wished she knew how stop this from happening but she just seemed to do everything wrong and even the most outlandish of her oddities, like the way she always groped the wall near a door when she entered a dark room (she had no idea why but it seemed to happen by instinct) seemed to annoy him beyond all proportion of the act itself.

"I'm sorry Papa?" she'd said, more of a question than apology as she really wasn't sure what she was sorry for on this occasion.

"And yet," he had gone on, his tone still frigid, "you still have the effrontery to sit at _my _desk, perusing matters of the estate. Matters which should hold no interest to a lady of delicate disposition and are frankly none of your affair! Now, kindly attempt to conduct yourself like a lady and place yourself before my desk where I might conduct an interview with you in an appropriate manner!"

"Oh!" Alex had exclaimed in realisation, rushing to extract herself from the chair and closing the ledger as she stood. She'd had an odd moment, the like of which she'd been experiencing a lot recently, where she noted that the date on the leather cover was 1782. She'd no idea why it should feel so significant but it did seem odd that she'd known it was July but it had never occurred to her to ask the year.

"I am sorry Papa, I didn't think." She'd apologised again, now standing before his desk as he took his place behind it.

"Yes well, I trust you will not forget yourself again in such an unladylike, unfilial manner!

'Good God! What a tight arsed wanker!'

Alex had gasped as the thought flashed through her brain. This was possibly the most disconcerting thing that had been occurring since she woke. The feeling of being utterly out of place was never as strong as when these shocking thoughts surprised her.

"Do not pretend shock Alexandra." He'd said, lips pursed in distaste, "I grow tired of the silliness you have exhibited of late. I will grant you that your behaviour has improved somewhat in recent weeks and you have curbed the worst of your inappropriate and sometimes nonsensical speech. However, I would have you re-married and soon; clearly any man would notice your current deficiencies therefore I will thank you to start behaving in a proper manner."

Alex had gaped at him like a fish out of water. That worrying inner voice had immediately set up protestations against the matter-of-fact way he'd spoken of her being married, as if it were his decision alone who and when she should marry. The fact that he hadn't even looked up as he spoke, discussing it as if it were of no more importance than any other transaction of the estate in the ledger, which he was inking up his quill to add figures to, had done nothing to quell her annoyance.

"The reason I mention it is that we shall entertain this evening. A number of eligible gentlemen shall attend us and I wish a match with at least one of them. In fact I think the most prudent choice would be..."

"Excuse me?" Alex may have made recent improvements in keeping inappropriate thoughts and speech at bay but her father's speech had caused a strong emotion to well within her. This had happened now and again and it was somewhat like losing control of her own tongue and brain. She felt completely herself yet at the same time utterly different. Standing in his study she had completely lost control, speaking without conscious thought as her father had stared, thoroughly taken aback by her interruption.

"Are you trying to tell me that you're planning on parading me about in front of a bunch of lecherous losers who can't get a woman , like I'm a piece of bloody meat?"

At her use of the word 'bloody' her father's face had turned puce, his eyes popping at both her language and the distinctly indelicate manner of her whole speech. Alex however, had been far from finished!

"Well you can sodding well think again! If you think I'm going to take part in this! In fact you can take your dinner guests and shove them right up your..." Her voice had risen in pitch and volume and she was at boiling point, nearing hysteria when her father had moved around his desk, taking her by the arms and shaking her roughly, abruptly putting a stop to her suggestion of an ideal location for the gentlemen visitors. Her quiet had not lasted however.

"Get your hands off me!" She'd yelled, pure fury pulsing through her. A detached part of her watched the proceedings with incomprehension, not precisely sure why she was quite so upset and offended.

"Gladly." He had answered, removing one hand and striking her an open-handed blow to her left cheek, hard enough to knock her to the floor.

The wind had been taken out of her sails by the utter shock of it and she'd lain propped up on one elbow, hand to her injured cheek as her father had taken a step closer and loomed over her; his gaze alone making it apparent that she would stay where she was if she knew what was good for her. She'd been able to taste blood from the inside of her cheek as she'd blinked back the tears which rose automatically in response to the stinging.

"Now listen to me." He hissed. "I will not have you provoke me to such vulgar displays. You will respect me as your father or I will find more civilised but no more agreeable methods to deal with you. When I gave you away to Peter Drake I felt at the time I was losing something precious to me. No matter, I told myself, you were a good girl; you would do your duty and provide an heir. Since your accident I see more of your true nature, I doubt you ever were the humble, delicate and proper daughter I thought I gave away. I fear the apple did not fall far from the tree my dear and having experienced the marital bed, I imagine you displayed the same loose, immoral ways as your mother."

Alex's head had still been swimming but his words struck a chord. She thought she knew what he was insinuating, both about herself and her mother and a memory prodded at her brain, desperate to get out. Something her mother had done behind her father's back; it had given her a bone deep feeling of complete disaster looming. She had blinked and tried to concentrate on her father's words, searching for the memory trigger.

"Doubtless _something_ caused the wretched man to take his own life in such a way and judging by the way you have conducted yourself since your ill-judged riding adventure," he'd made no bones about his feelings on the suitability of riding as a pursuit for a woman in mourning, "one can't but assume he was grievously let down by his choice of wife. Mark me Alexandra, it shall not happen again. You will do your duty by me and this estate, I swear it!"

Taking her by the elbow he had yanked her to her feet and continued to hiss at her, now at closer range.

"You will make yourself look presentable, nay attractive this evening. You will speak when spoken to and you shall endeavour to be both charming and witty without any of the inappropriate ideas or manners of speech you have employed in recent months. You have had more than enough time to recover and your behaviour indicates a lack of self-control and propriety; furthermore I suspect you are being intentionally obtuse. I tire, both of your artifice and the indulgence your mother has shown. As my only child your duty is to provide an heir for this estate and you _will_ set your mind to it. Do you understand me lady?"

"Yes," Alex had replied sullenly.

"I hear neither charm nor wit, nor yet even humility in your response Alexandra." His tone had gotten her attention immediately.

"I apologise Papa," she had said meekly, a voice deep inside her raging at this acquiescence, "I understand and will conduct myself appropriately."

"Yes, you most definitely shall." He had sniffed and lifting his coat-tails sat himself behind his desk, waving a hand vaguely in her direction. "You may go."

And that was it. She'd been dismissed, just like that, not even a glance in her direction.

Now the hour for dinner was approaching and Alex would dearly love to be anywhere but here. If she were just a foolish, air-headed kind of a woman it wouldn't be so bad, she mused. If that were the case she could marry anyone and find her happiness in gowns and jewels and throwing balls and looking pretty on her husband's arm; she could live fairly happily and with luck only occasionally have to bear his male attentions for the sake of the pretty material things which would be hers, after all it was a small part of a marriage surely.

However, Alex was cursed with a brain, a brain which _would_ keep running off with scandalous thoughts about how her father had no right to tell her to marry and that frankly she could do better without him or any other bloody man in her life. Obviously this was foolishness; there were no prospects for a woman of her status to make her own way in the world without bringing the greatest of dishonour to her family but right now she was finding it hard to care. Like it or not she was stuck, dependent on her father to keep her until another man was found who would. She briefly wondered if she'd always felt this way.

"Was I happy before the accident Elsie?" she questioned.

"Can't see as it's my place to say really Miss," was the infuriatingly vague reply.

"Did I marry Peter for love, I mean? Or was it the kind of thing my father is plotting just now? Was I married off to the first suitable man who'd have me?"

Elsie looked at her mistress askance.

"I'm sure I have no idea what comes into your head sometimes Miss," the tone of disapproval wasn't even hidden. "Your Papa has always done his best for you. You can be sure he will do his duty in finding a very suitable match, and grateful you should be for it too! As to being happy? You'll be as happy or unhappy as you choose to be. If you'd take my advice though Miss, you'll reconcile yourself to being wed even if you can't see the good of it just now. It'll make things a darn site easier on you, begging your pardon for my language."

Alex looked for a moment like she was about to retort then her shoulders slumped and she heaved herself round into the chair properly, ready to get up.

"I suppose we'd better get on Elsie," she sighed, as she stood and began to unfasten the pins of her day gown. "Father will be most displeased if I'm late to meet whatever imbeciles he's lined to up to ogle and slobber at me."

Elsie very much looked like she was about to remonstrate about Alex's lack of respect for her father and his wishes but seeing how worn down and dejected she looked she forbore any comment and helped her re-dress in a gown of deep wine coloured silk. Pinning her hair up into a more sober style she smiled at Alex in the looking glass, attempting without words to reassure her mistress and offer her the comfort she was in no place to offer with words.

With a deep sigh Alex set off for whatever tortures the evening might bring.

**_So, no Guv yet. I promise the next chapter is pretty much nothing but Guv – I'll be posting in a week or just under if you're interested! Thank you for the reviews so far! Let me know if you'd like me to continue!_**


	3. A New Arrival

Right on my planned weekly schedule – here's part 3 – we finally meet Gene and the gang – thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. A big thanks for putting up with these preliminary chpaters which are scene setting and introducing our fave characters in their slightly more unusual settings! Chapter Three - A New Arrival

Skelton's head hit the tree hard a fraction of a second after his back had. He'd just the presence of mind to draw in a deep breath before the inevitable fist hit him in the stomach. Winded, he slid slowly down the trunk. He'd known this wouldn't be easy but he hadn't even had a chance to put across his reasoning and arguments before the Guv had started in on him. If he could just get a word in, he knew he could make him see the benefits of an addition to their little outlaw band. The Guv eyed the younger man wheezing on the ground with contempt before making his way over to the campfire, wrinkling his nose in distaste at the smell that rose from the pot hanging over it from an improvised tripod of branches.

Carling, the other member of the somewhat motley crew, having paused with a spoonful of the 'stew' currently offending the Guv's nostrils,halfway to his lips, began eating again. Seemed the entertainment was concluded for the present, best get back to forcing this rancid concoction down his throat. He'd known _exactly _ how his Guv'nor, known universally as the 'Guv' to all who encountered him, would react to Skelton's boyish infatuation let alone the fact that it had led the witless fool to bring the object of that infatuation to their secret camp!

"Take her back where yer bloody found her, yer blunder-headed son-of-a-whore," he grunted over his shoulder at the prone form, turning to eye the pot speculatively, deciding if he really were hungry enough to eat it's contents. "We'll need to find a new bloody camp now!"

Seeing the girl now step towards the Guv'nor, Carling let his spoon splash into the remnants of his meal and stretched himself out, head resting against the nearest tree bole, a slow grin spreading over his face; looked like Christopher's floozy was as dim as he was. Apparently there was more entertainment to come.

"Please," she said quietly, standing before the Guv. "Don't make 'im cast me off Sir. He's the most lovely man I ever met and 'is 'eart is pure gold. He rescued me from such cruelty Sir, 'e really did. 'e's loyal and brave and…."

"No!" The Guv's tone immediately quelled her entreaties. He eyed her up and down and didn't look like he was much impressed by what he was seeing. "Rescued you from cruelty? If yer wanted to be treated right yer shouldn't have taken to whoring girl. Don't think I don't know where he got yer. What else do yer expect from becoming that kind of woman? Ye're even more of a bloody imbecile than he is!"

"Don't you call her that!" Skelton was on his feet and, much to Carling's amazement looked about to square up to the Guv. He snorted to himself, it really must be love! Only that fool of a boy would think himself in love with a whore and believe he could stand up to the Guv'nor on the strength of it!

"She's a victim of circumstance, nothing more!" Skelton was making a fair job of looking a good deal braver than he felt. "She'd not have taken to that life had she any choice and she'd barely started anyway. I'll not have her name sullied!"

The Guv's eyes fixed on Skelton, fury boiling out of them, looking down his nose, he spoke very distinctly. "Do you forget to whom you speak Skelton? Yer're a damned fool man. Do yer think yer're the first or will be the last idiot that this tart has hoodwinked and 'charmed' into thinking himself in love with her? Just because she welcomed yer into her warm, comforting quim doesn't mean yer hold a place in her heart. Trust you to think yer're in love the first time yer get yer cock wet! She'll rob you blind and be off before you can get yer breeches back on you idiot. Then she'll be away telling the whole of Christendom where to find us!"

"I won't Sir," the small brunette spoke quietly again but the incongruity of her back street London accent was enough to grab the attention of the northern men around her.

"Who the devil told you to speak?" The Guv made a move toward the girl, arm upraised, hand held in a fashion indicating she was soon going to feel the back of it. Skelton moved quickly, pushing the girl behind him to shield her. Although she had flinched at his motion she found courage to speak up from behind her gallant protector in a quick gabble.

"I meant to say, I can't Sir. Rob you all and escape I mean. For one I've nowhere to go, for two I love Christopher with all my heart, and for three 'e blindfolded me when he brought me 'ere! I ain't got the faintest notion where we are!"

"I don't ruddy care!" Actually the Guv had to admit that he was impressed Skelton had had the foresight to do such a thing and was momentarily taken aback. "I've got enough to bloody well think about without a bloody woman in tow. Reclaiming wealth on the highways is mans work."

"Oh you needn't worry about that Sir," the irrepressible young woman piped up. "I grew up wiv brothers, I can fight when I need to, can even 'andle a knife though I don't like to. I'll tell you what else, give me five minutes with that pot and I'll show you 'ow else I can be 'andy too!"

"You're telling me you think you can make Carling's swill more edible?" There was no way she was staying but if he was going to get a slightly decent tasting supper out of the encounter he'd wait until morning to send her on her way.

She nodded and he gave a gruff nod of his head; reading this correctly as permission to try, the girl winked at him and disappeared off into the woods. Coming back two minutes later she set to work over the pot doing he knew not what with what he presumed were herbs, retrieving something from the small pack she'd brought with her, adding it to the stew and ladling off the excess scummy water floating atop the concoction. The Guv watched her work, his countenance growing darker by the second as he had time to think. Eventually, smiling she filled a bowl and offered it to him.

The look of pride as she handed him her efforts dropped off her face, her jaw going slack and she began to tremble, her gaze darting in disbelief between the bowl and the pistol he'd just pulled on her!

"Who sent you?" he growled. "I know it's someone in London, I can tell by the way you speak. What did they ask you to find out about me? Do you know my name? My real name, my given name?" He couldn't be sure that anyone was on to him at all, but there was more than one person who would be very glad to see him six feet under if they'd got wind of what is business was.

"N-n no-one I swear it."

Skelton was on his feet again but wisely hadn't made any sudden movement. The Guv looked possessed, startle him now and who knew what might happen.

"And you think it's just going to be so easy to kill me do you? You think I'm just going to swallow down your poison and go to sleep never to wake again?"

The girl looked bewildered, her now tear-filled gaze darting between Christopher and the Guv. She'd heard about what a pistol could do to you and she was not enjoying the sensation of having one in such close proximity to her face!

"You eat some." The Guv demanded. "If no-one sent yer and yer not a filthy stinking little spy you eat some first. Yer won't mind eating it if it's not poisoned will yer?"

Looking at Skelton, who nodded his encouragement, his belief in his paramour unwavering, she slowly raised the spoon to her lips and took a large mouthful of the newly flavoured stew. Sensing the Guv's eyes still on her and being frankly very hungry anyway, she made a decision and wolfed down the entire contents of the bowl in three spoonfuls. Looking up at him triumphantly she was pleased to see him try to hide a grin.

"Well lass, I don't suppose yer'd have polished that off so quick had you poisoned it so it seems we'll do as we are for the minute," he lowered the pistol and tucked it away as he spoke. "It's too late to take yer back now so yer can stay the night I suppose," he held up his hands to stop her joyful thanks. "Yer'll go back tomorrow though. Women are bad luck in this business and yer mouths are altogether too free. I have things I'd rather no-one got to know. Now get me some more grub then get to bed and don't bloody wear him out. I need him tomorrow."

She grinned as she almost skipped back to the pot and ladled out stew, whisking it back to him in no time. "Thank you," she said, standing on tip-toe to kiss his cheek taking him so completely by surprise that he snorted over his first mouthful.

"Yes well, none of that," he blustered awkwardly. "I'm not as impressionable as yon idiot so don't be trying yer tricks with me."

He watched her snuggle up with Skelton under his one thin blanket not far from the fire and finally took a mouthful of the stew. God knew what she'd done to it but compared to the slop Carling usually cooked up this was ambrosia! Eyeing the two love birds as they whispered sweet nothings to each other he began to wonder if he'd been too hasty.

"What's yer name?" He grunted in her direction, startling the young lovers momentarily.

"Shaz," she answered sounding apologetic about it.

"What the 'ell kind of a name is that?" he thundered.

"Don't know," she shrugged. "Must be short for somefin but my mother didn't stick around long enough to tell me, it's all anyone's ever called me. Maybe it's Charlotte or somefin' nothing else feels right though."

"Hmmph," was the answer to this piece of reasoning. "Well, 'Shaz' if yer make breakfast half as good as you make stew, and if yer can manage to keep yer bloody mouth shut and stay put in camp when we're on a job, I might consider keeping yer around for a bit."

"Truthfully Sir?" she sat bolt upright a look of pure delight on her face, joined by Skelton's beside her looking as if all his Christmases had come at once, although it was plain that he didn't quite believe he'd get to keep the presents.

"Yes. Now bloody lie you down and get some sleep and I don't want to be subjected to the sound of you pair canoodling. I need a good night's sleep, I've important business tomorrow evening." He rolled his eyes as they lay down, soft murmurings and giggles immediately reaching him on the air across the fire. At least some bugger was happy he supposed. "Oh and Shaz," he interrupted their tete-a-tete as he climbed under his own blanket, "it's Guv from now on ok?"

**Please do let me know if you're enjoying it! Thank you!**


	4. A Night to Remember

Hey guys. Sorry this part is late but I literally have not had time to post this! :( I'm actually thinking Wednesday might be a better time to post as lots of folks disappear on a Friday.

Thank you so much for the reviews up until now! Had a few guesses at stuff or questions about things, that have a bearing on later parts of the story so I shan't address them just now - just bear with me if the writing is not too awful for you.

Also, this definitely WILL be M rated later (although prob not like my usual stuff) but it's going to take a few chapters!

Chapter Four – A Night to Remember?

Alex slammed the bedroom door shut behind her and reaching down, quickly snatched her shoes from her feet. Finally succumbing to the urge that had been rising in her since she'd been dismissed from her father's company, she screamed aloud and threw the shoes with all her might across the room.

"Bloody buggering bastards!" she yelled.

"Miss Alexandra!" Elsie's shocked tones distracted Alex for a second from her ire. "Were I still your nurse, I'd be washing your mouth out! Where ever did you hear such language?"

The realisation of just how uncouth her language had been took the wind completely out of Alex's sails.

"I-I'm not sure," she said, puzzled. "It just sort of came out of my mouth! It happens a lot since I woke, you know that, but it's not usually so vulgar!"

Seeing that Alex was more puzzled than irate now Elsie changed tack.

"I take it you were none too keen on any of the gentlemen your father had for company this evening Miss?"

Alex snorted. "That, my dear Elsie, is possibly the biggest understatement I have ever heard!" When this received nothing but a puzzled look from her maid, Alex continued. "I could not have loathed them more if they'd come to the table and demanded human brains for supper. They were the most obnoxious, disgusting, sorry excuse for a group of men I've ever laid eyes on!... And I have to marry one of them!" Alex was amazed to actually feel tears welling up in her eyes. "Oh God! Elsie. What am I going to do?"

"Well first of all I'd be stopping the taking of the Lord's name in vain," Elsie snapped, then seeing that Alex really was upset she took pity. "Come and sit you down Miss Alexandra and I'll brush out your hair like when you were a little girl and you can tell me all about it."

Alex allowed herself to be ushered to her dressing table and watched, slightly blearily, through the mirror as Elsie began unpinning her hair. She really shouldn't have drunk so much wine but it had seemed perfectly natural to her at the time. It was one of the things that had made her behave so badly and had also enraged her father. Sighing she looked down at the underside of her wrist where the livid splotches of newly forming bruises were beginning to show. Her father had literally dragged her from the room at the end of dinner and Alex shuddered in remembrance of how utterly insane he had seemed, not to mention his further threats toward her.

"Oh Elsie!" Alex said quietly, a tear sliding down her cheek. "Father is so angry with me. I behaved so, so badly tonight. There's no way one of those men will marry me now and he went to great expense for this dinner. Oh, his face! I've never seen anyone so furious, he threatened to take his riding crop to me and I really think he meant it Elsie. Surely it's not right, surely men shouldn't be able to do such things, simply because we are women."

"Well, I daresay there's the odd one that's crueller than needs be and some of them need a dose of their own medicine no doubt, but I am sure of one thing. Your Papa wouldn't threaten you that way without cause now would he? I'm not saying as he's right," Elsie held up her hands in surrender as Alex glared at her through the mirror, "I'm just saying _something_ must have brought this on and him usually so mild! Get it off your chest lamb, you'll sleep easier."

"Hmm," Alex was not entirely convinced. "I can't be sure of anything anymore Elsie. You know they say he's as mad as I am these days. I think it's something to do with Mama, they rarely speak to one another any more you know. But never mind that just now, you're right Elsie, it'll feel better to get it off my chest. Thank you."

As Elsie brushed her hair and they went about the business of getting her ready for bed Alex recounted the disastrous evening.

She had begun the evening as resigned to her fate as she could bring herself to be. In fact, to be perfectly honest, sweeping into the drawing room where the guests were being received, she'd felt both elegant and beautiful. All eyes had turned to her and she had found herself at the centre of a flurry of attention. Indeed, she'd feared her arm might drop off from the excessive fan waving she was having to do. It hadn't taken long though, for the shine to wear off. Very quickly she found herself summing up the characters of the men around her and she found each one wanting.

As she recounted the tale to Elsie she was not surprised to find that she could barely remember any of their names at all. In fact, as she had during the course of the evening, she referred to them merely by the most defining characteristic of each specimen. First of all, was the unfortunate gentleman whom she had labelled 'the skinny one'. Like many of the others, he had neither charm nor good looks; indeed he looked as if he'd hardly the capacity to feed himself let alone keep a wife and estate. Tall and ungainly, he'd almost fallen over his own feet in his efforts to be first to greet her and after stifling a giggle behind her fan Alex had come to the conclusion that feeling a great deal of pity for an awkward, gangling man barely out of boyhood was not the best basis for setting your mind to marrying someone. With that thought in mind she'd decided to consider the other gentlemen present.

Elsie tutted a little at Alex's speech so far but held her thoughts in check.

She'd then been presented to the most odious man she'd ever encountered. Tall and not exactly ugly still he exuded an air of malice, treachery and lechery that made Alex shudder when his eyes lit upon her. He was old enough to be her grandfather and seemed to regard his clothing as the prime opportunity to display his wealth. His coat and breeches were of a finer silk even than the dress she was wearing, as was his waistcoat (which strained to contain his stomach) and he sported a profusion of lace for his jabot and at his sleeves. His eyes had slid over her in exactly the manner of a groom eyeing up a horse for purchase and despite her best efforts to remain charming, her smile had frozen in place, skin crawling at his dispassionate appraisal of her.

At first, this odious man had held all of her attention, though not in the way he would have hoped. She could feel his eyes upon her as she met all of the other guests present and felt almost certain that he could see right through her dress and bodice to her shift and probably through that too! She couldn't concentrate at all on the conversations that were being struck up by the others as they fell over themselves to gain her attention. It took a loud clearing of the throat and a meaningful look from her father to recall her to the task at hand. Thus reminded she had turned her full attention to the next guest, greeting him with such an offensive of charm that a lesser man might have passed out from it.

As it was, the guest who received her concerted efforts was the man she was soon to privately refer to as 'the insolent one'. After a few awkward moments she abandoned her attempts to compliment him, which were being rebuffed at every turn, and began the reverse method of flirting, endeavouring to extract compliments from him. When she apologised that she had not had time to send to London for finer material to make a new dress for the occasion he'd grunted that he supposed she'd do well enough as she was. He was a farmer anyway and he didn't see the need of a woman so spoiled that she felt a new dress required more than once in twenty years. Alex had bitten her tongue on the caustic reply that had risen – fighting to prevent herself stating with certainty that there was no way in hell he'd need to concern himself with her dress arrangements, as she'd no sooner marry him than the stable boy. Instead, smiling winningly, she'd suggested she might like to hear more about his farm. For the second time that evening a man had eyed her speculatively up and down. With absolutely no propriety or sense of manners he'd leaned in and told her, in his gentleman farmers accent, that he wasn't sure what interest_ she_ might have in a farm; however, were a bargain to be made with her father he was sure mutual satisfaction could be reached. After all, you didn't always buy an animal to have it work hard; sometimes you had to invest in animals that you thought would breed well.

Knowing all too well that she was being unfavourably compared to a beast of the field, Alex had been saved from a reply that would have gotten her into trouble by the dinner gong. She found herself, at dinner, flanked on one side by a ratty looking little man who seemed possessed by some demon or other as he twitched and snorted his way through the seven courses her father had splashed out on and on the other by Mr Lacy cuffs with, as she now dimly recalled, the Scottish sounding name. The snorting and twitching of the first unfortunate fellow gained him the uncharitable but accurate appellation of 'pig-man' in Alex's mind and she found it hard to supress her mirth when during the course of conversation she discovered that's exactly what he was; a pig farmer!

The idea of marrying any of these men was so unappealing to her, the whole situation of being paraded like a piece of meat so repugnant, that Alex could barely eat; the wine on the other hand, seemed to be going down far too well! She supposed the ' insolent one' was the least repulsive but there he went again with that unsettling gaze of his even from all the way at the other side of table making her feel as if she were stripped naked in the most disturbing way.

It was when the talk had turned to Paris that Alex had really begun to get herself into trouble. Mr Scottish -name was waxing lyrical, if incredibly boring, about the delights of the city and quite before she knew where it had come from Alex had interrupted him in a low and slurred voice.

"Do you visit the houses of ill repute there?" She slurred. "I am given to understand that most men do you know."

Mr Mac-whatever he was, choked on the mouthful of wine he was imbibing and gave her a hard stare as if not quite certain he had heard right. To his credit he tried to give her an escape route but once truly launched upon her disastrous course, there was no turning the good ship Alexandra back.

"My dear," he had said quietly, "I think the wine has gone to your head. I'm sure that is the only reason that such unseemly thoughts would enter your fair head. Let us speak no more of such things, that you are aware of their existence is damage enough done."

"Oh really?" Alex had slurred a little more loudly. "So you deny you've ever been to one then? That's a shame, it would have been good practise for tonight. That's what my father is doing you understand, selling me to the highest bidder. Taking money in exchange for a man's use of my body."

"Now Miss Alexandra…" his face had begun to turn purple with sheer shock at these things coming from a lady's mouth and he sputtered over his words as he tried to remonstrate, no longer paying attention to how much note the rest of the table might be taking of their conversation. Unfortunately for Alex her father's attention was well and truly upon them!

"You don't like my choice of words?" Alex questioned, quite enjoying herself now, mindless of the danger flashing in her father's eyes. "Maybe I'm a bigger man than all of you? At least I call it what it is. I'll tell you something though, I hear the virgins fetch the best prices in such places. Well Papa is out of luck is he not?"

At this point she had leaned forward so her face was directly in front of Mr Mackintosh's – Mackintosh THAT was his name – and had completely failed to realise her father had left his seat and was stalking round to the side of the table where she sat. Leaning even further forward she squinted at him through one eye; her pointed index finger wavering wildly, as her wineglass dangled from the tenuous grip of her thumb and middle finger on the rim.

"He is out of luck Sir, because I have already been married. I'm soiled goods, Sir! So whatever you were going to pay I'd suggest…"

At this point her father had taken her by the elbow in seemingly gentlemanly fashion; however, in order to make her rise he had dug his fingers solidly into her arm obliging her to stand or cry out at it and all of a sudden she realised where and when she was and that there would already be repercussions enough.

"Gentleman, my daughter has recently suffered a grievous injury and has not been used to society, rich food or fine wine for quite some time. I am sure you will excuse us while I see her safely to the care of her ladies maid. I fear your splendid company has fatigued my poor lamb and I bid you good night on her behalf."

The fraction of a second that part of Alex's brain had rebelled at this, caused her to pull her arm from his grasp and open her mouth, ready to let loose a tirade of words that were bubbling up from deep, deep inside her. Equally quickly her father had caught her wrist in an excruciating grip, and barely keeping up any pretence had dragged her from the room.

"Oh Elsie, I couldn't even repeat to you the things he called me." Alex smiled ruefully. "You truly would wash my mouth out and I shouldn't wonder if you went down and gave my father the same treatment."

Elsie was still brushing gently at her mistress's hair but her lips were pursed and Alex knew she was struggling to keep her counsel; she had no doubt that she was not coming off favourably in Elsie's thoughts either.

"Please Elsie, please don't be cross at me too." Tears welled up again in her eyes as she caught the gaze of the maid in the looking glass. "I couldn't bear it if you hated me too Elsie, really I couldn't. Father has summoned me again to his study tomorrow and I'm perfectly terrified of what he might do."

Elsie had been hard put to do anything but succumb to Alex's tears ever since she were a child and tonight proved no exception.

"There, there now Miss," she comforted stroking the soft brown curls on Alex's head. "I'm sure as it's not as bad as all that. Your father will have time to soothe his passions in brandy, cigars and sleep before the morning and I'm sure if you ask his pardon properly and politely all will be right between you."

"Do you really think so Elsie?" Alex asked, climbing into her bed and pulling the covers up to her chin as if they could protect her from what was to come. "I do hope you're right.

**If you're enjoying please let me know (why yes I am being a shameless review whore!)**


	5. A Surprising Encounter

**Hello!**

**This is a quick message filled with profuse apology. First of all sorry that this is so late - real life is a bitch sometimes! Secondly, sorry if there are any mistakes in this chapter. I started giving it a last once over, since it's been written for so long, then life came along again and decided to be a douche so I never got finished checking/changing. However, I'm going to London tomorrow and it's already been an unforgivable amount of time between updates so please have this humble offering with my apologies one last time - oh oh and an earnest entreaty for feedback if you'd be so kind!**

Chapter Five – A Surprising Encounter

The Guv glowered at the only other occupant of the inn's main room, watching the shadows of the fire play across the man's face and looking for all the world as if he'd like to dash him into the hearth and watch him burn. They'd been at their game of cards for a considerable time now and he knew he should get some sleep. It would be dawn soon and he had to start formulating new plans quickly. His luck over the past few days had been abominable and he now found himself in unfamiliar hunting ground, in an inn he'd never used before losing money to a man he should have been able to best with his eyes shut. The stranger kept trying to draw him into conversation too. So far it had all been innocuous but Gene was a naturally suspicious man. He wished the attempts at civility would cease so that he might wallow in his thoughts.

He reflected despondently on how his affairs had careened from one disaster to another in the las couple of days. He and his band of rogues had been chased off earlier when they had attempted to hold up the carriage of a visiting squire. The whole enterprise had been doomed before it began. It was late at night and he'd reached his men with his blood well and truly up. He probably shouldn't have insisted they move when they did but he had been in such an ill humour that he'd needed _some _outlet for it and the hold up of this particular squire fit the bill perfectly. Bloody Carling had been the scout on the job and he had entirely failed to notice that the man travelled with an armed guard, indeed even the wretched driver had had a piece. Never one to put intent before reason he'd called to Carling and Skelton to split and ride hard away from the scene. Luckily the guards had had no fancy for taking them prisoner and searching out a reward. They had let them scatter into the surrounding hills with nothing more than a couple of shots aimed at their retreating backs.

Having met at their agreed place an hour or so later he'd made the decision for all three of them that it was getting altogether too dangerous a prospect to be plying their trade on their usual route, so they would head for roads as yet uncharted by them. The guv rubbed his bruised knuckles as he contemplated the man across the hearth from him. He'd had to punch Skelton in the mouth to get him to shut up about the harlot who'd been following along of them lately. Having finally got him to stop jabbering like a woman, he'd made him see that they were not abandoning her. She was well hidden in the woods with his wagon and regardless of his opinion of the wench he would most assuredly be returning for the wagon at the first sensible opportunity. If she'd not fulfilled his initial prediction of her most likely actions and run off with his most valuable stock, then they would retrieve her along with the wagon. Pacified and reminded by Carling that it probably wasn't best to cross the Guv when he was in one of his tempers Skelton had gone to bed and Carling had followed shortly after with the barmaid.

Sometimes he wondered what he had done to deserve being surrounded by such nitwits but then, he had chosen them himself had he not. Heaven knew what it would take to divest Skelton of his sentimental view of the world and women. All he knew for certain was that this wench he'd picked up was probably going to play a substantial role in his rude awakening. Gene had never trusted women and certainly not whores. It was at this point that the very object of Gene's thoughts came bursting into the inn bringing with her a draught that caused the fire to roar up the chimney before dying down once more. Gene grunted, he'd often wondered had the girl not been sent by devil himself to goad him, in llight of this it amused him that she should have such an effect on the fire.

Shaz eyed him and his companion warily. She wasn't stupid, she'd grown up very much on the wrong side of the law and if you wanted to stay alive long, you learned quickly when it might be to your advantage to suddenly have no recollection of someone you knew fairly well. She didn't know who the lank haired, shovel faced man the Guv was playing cards with was, but she didn't like the look of him. Keeping her counsel definitely seemed the best way forward and gave them the element of surprise should she need to get involved in anything.

"Evenin' gents." She nodded at them and even dropped a little curtsy. "Or should I say mornin'. It's a hard life and no mistake up and about when all decent folks are in their beds."

"Barmaid's gone to bed." Gene grunted. "So's everyone else. "

With an exaggerated shift of his head he indicated the door she'd come in by. "I don't know about rooms but I can't see as they'd have a problem with you bedding down in the stables lass. This is men's business in 'ere."

Shaz laughed at him. Actually laughed.

"Lord bless yer Sir. I know the family who keep this inn well. They won't mind a bit if I get myself a little drink and sit quiet in case you gentleman should need anything. You play on, you won't even know I'm 'ere!"

Gene snorted at this but returned his attention to the game. He didn't know what she was playing at but he thought it best to keep their relationship a secret just now. He watched from the corner of his eye, ostensibly studying his hand as Shaz went unerringly for the ale jug and poured herself a generous flagon. They'd be having words about her not doing as he told her tomorrow, not to mention how well she seemed to know the inn. It could bode good or ill for working this road but right now he needed to concentrate on keeping his dignity in this card game.

As they played on Gene realised that his companion was trying less and less to draw him into conversation. Puzzled he began to watch the man more carefully as his shifty, narrow eyes flitted back again and again to Shaz. The Guv supposed he couldn't blame him, as was common in her profession the wench wore only a shift with a black corset on top and a ragged maroon skirt that was rife with holes and showed various expanses of leg at various points. Her stockings were equally holey and her boots whilst sturdy on top had barely any sole to them.

To Gene's surprise the man started losing at cards. The surprise was short-lived however when he stole another look at the stranger. He was practically drooling now and paying no attention whatsoever to the game.

"Oi, darlin," he shouted suddenly across the room. "Oi, come over 'ere darlin' I'll teach you how to play."

"You're fooling yourself if you think there's anything you could teach me about cards." Shaz laughed. "Learned more than you'll ever know right at my father's knee almost before I could walk!"

"Who says I'm talking about cards?" he leered. "Can think of plenty I'd like to teach you darlin', although lookin' atcha I don't see as how there's much you won't already know. Come over 'ere and show us how good you are."

"I'm just off to bed actually." Shaz said climbing to her feet, sensing that this could turn against her any second and as much loyalty as she had to the Guv, he was a man at the end of the day. She'd been around enough ladies of certain charms and done just enough charming of her own that she knew the true nature of men. Her Christopher was a one off and an angel and she knew she was lucky but she knew that once the fever was on them men would stop at nothing save they were satiated. There was no reason that the Guv should be any different and if she didn't get out of the small room now she had no trouble imagining she'd have two of them on her at once. No matter how much she'd determined not to be with another man ever, she knew she was no match for two of them.

"Betsy won't mind me sleeping with her. I'll just go on up. G'night to you gents."

"I'll be damned if you will," roared Gene's opponent. "I ain't ever had a quean turn 'er nose up at my money afore and I daresay Mr Hunt here hasn't neither. You've insulted us both you baggage, don't you take another step."

He moved quickly despite his bulk and height and Shaz backed up against the wall as he closed off her route to the stairs door. The second her back hit the wall he was on her, pinning her with his weight. He fumbled roughly at the top of her bodice pulling a breast free to maul at it as he bit and slobbered at her neck, forcing her legs apart with his knees.

He left off his animalistic mauling long enough to turn and look at Gene. "Come on Mr Hunt, have a taste, she's young and tender this one."

"I'd leave off her were I you." Gene said mildly, shifting in his seat his hand moving towards his belt. "Looks like she's got the pox that one."

"Nah! Not this one. She's got a pretty little mouth and I bet she knows what to do with it. Eh? Is that right?" He turned his attention back to Shaz now but the distraction had been just long enough for her to wriggle some room to manoeuvre. As he turned she managed to get a knee up to his groin and was just about to give him a hefty belt where it would hurt most when he pulled his hips back, depriving her of her target. Evidently not wanting to fool around further he drew back a fist and punched her hard in the stomach.

Just as the blow connected Shaz saw Gene stand up, pulling his pistol from his belt and aiming it squarely at the mans back.

"You little BITCH!" her assailant was paying attention to nothing but his own fury now, standing over her doubled up, winded form. "Try to kick me in the stones will you? I'll learn you better than that. I'll knock your bloody teeth out for you. Then sucking cock is all men will want you for."

As he grabbed her by the throat and hauled her to her feet Gene opened his mouth to call a halt to this. The situation had escalated quicker than he'd imagined and he'd never intended any harm to come to the girl. However a slow grin spread across his face as he spied a glint of metal in her hand. A second later she had the knife at the man's throat and though he still moved closer ready to step in as soon as he might be needed he thought he'd see how this went for the moment.

"You ain't gonna knock my teeth out and you ain't going to raise your 'and to me again." She hissed putting a little pressure on the knife, the tip pressing hard enough to produce a tiny bead of blood. "I'm done with whoring and I'll be damned if you're going to take me for money, by force, or any other way."

Gene watched with interest as the man's Adam's apple shifted against the knife. Gulping again, the would-be rapist finally found his voice, speaking to Shaz in a placating tone. "You're a tiny little girl, and there's two of us. Don't be doing anything silly now. Just take the knife away slowly and….."

"Two of us?" Gene cut in. "And what makes you think I'll be fighting along of you in this situation? Far as I see the girl's got the better of you and she did say 'no'. I'd say you best do the gentlemanly thing and back off."

"Huh! I'd never have took you for a molly, Hunt! Or a turncoat."

"I don't remember any allegiance being struck between us." Gene growled, moving closer and placing his pistol flush against the base of the man's skull. "Now, I've a pistol and she's a knife that both say yer'd best be on your way."

Gene nodded at Shaz and between them, with pressure from their respective weapons, they manoeuvred their captive to the inn door. At Gene's signal Shaz stepped away allowing him to push the unwanted guest through it and out Gene's voice following him. "Get your horse and be gone."

As soon as he was out Shaz slammed the door shut and threw the heavy bolts, top and bottom, into place. Grinning she turned to a very amused looking Guv.

"Where in the name of all that's holy did yer get the knife?" He questioned, eyeing her narrowly.

"Oh I always have one tucked in my boot," she laughed, "never can be too careful in my old profession. Normally there's a more of a chance to get to it though. He was fast for a big bugger. I was that grateful when he caught me a blow to the stomach, meant I could bend down and get at it once I got my breath."

"Bloody 'ellfire!" Gene exclaimed, impressed despite himself. "Would you have cut his throat though?"

"I'm afraid we won't never know now, shall we?" She grinned.

Gene shook his head as he looked at her in a completely new light. She'd had the sense to stay quiet and not declare that they knew each other, she'd taken a punch to the gut that would have felled men bigger by far than her and now what was this? She was waving something in his face that she claimed had come from her attacker's pocket.

"I grabbed it while we was getting him out," She stated, shrugging, "makes no sense to me, can't read a jot, thought it might be useful to you though. Old habits die hard and that includes sticky fingers in men's pockets! I didn't like the way he was looking at you."

Gene opened up the letter and his face darkened immediately, breathing hard, his nostrils flaring he glared at the paper so intensely Shaz thought it might burst into flames merely from his gaze. He looked up at her and realised she had, all of a sudden, gone white to her very lips and there was a slight tremor to her hands. Clearly the night's excitement had had _some_ effect on her.

"Here, here, sit down lass and take a good gulp of this ale."

"I'm sorry, Guv." She mumbled, "I don't know what's come over me. I expect this is why you don't like lily-livered women along of you eh?"

"Shaz." He stated, lifting her face so their eyes met. "I've seen men _more_ than twice your size go down like a sack of flour when the fighting spirit goes out of them. It takes some people that way, fighting for yer life does, and it's no shame to need a wee draft of something to sort yer out. Here, get this brandy inside you an'all and yer'll be right as my leg in no time."

She smiled at him and managed to impress him once more by downing a snifter of the brandy he'd quickly snagged from the shelf, in one go without so much as a shudder. The colour almost instantaneously returned to her cheeks and lips and Gene gave her the ghost of a smile.

"Now, do as yer told this time and get to bed, we're going to want feeding in the morning and I don't want you half asleep."

"Yes Guv." She smiled shyly once more and headed for the stairs leaving Gene to sink back onto the wooden settle, the dark look taking over his features as he once more read the letter, plucked from the stranger's coat.


	6. Bloody Women

**I am sooooo ridiculously sorry for the massive delay with this chapter. I'd been told the last four weeks at my work were going to be intense but I had no idea just how intense. I've barely had brainpower to function outside of work for weeks now and I'm afraid my writing really suffered. **

**I finally finished this chapter and tweaked and added and took away and I ****_think_**** it's just about fit for public consumption! Any and all mistakes are mine - I probably could have done a better BETA job but I wanted to get it out!**

**If it's any consolation the next chapter is half written and fully outlined and I have some time off coming up so fingers crossed for much more soon!**

**To recap, Gene is warming to Shaz, we think. Some dodgy guy was acting very mysteriously towards him in an inn. His highwaymanning is not going so well and that's where we left him. Alex has been paraded in front of various 'odious' gentleman and is to be married off but we're not sure ****_yet_**** who the lucky gentleman will be!**

**Hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 6 – Bloody Women

Alex glowered at the other occupant of the, admittedly lavish, carriage. The potency of her baleful glare was lost somewhat every time the vehicle hit a bump in the road, obliging her to hang on fiercely to the back of the seat and the sill of the window to her right. As she recovered from a particularly wild lurch she turned to fix Charles Mackintosh, her unwanted 'fiancé', with a look of pure hatred and started back violently against the seat as she found him uncomfortably close.

His hand whipped up to her face like lightning, thumb and index finger squeezing brutally, promising to leave bruises where dimples should be. For the first time there was a flicker of fear in her eyes. Sensing the imprudence of letting him see behind her defences she quickly replaced it with scorn but it was too late. The lazy grin which crept over his smug, flabby face told her he'd both seen it and recognised the emotion immediately.

"Were I you, my dear," the last word dripping with sarcasm, "I'd modify the contempt in my gaze a good deal more than you have done so far. I do not care for, or about, your hatred. I thought your father and I had made his quite clear to you. The deal is done. You are mine. You will be my wife and I warn you now, I shall lose patience with you very quickly if you continue to glare death at me at every turn!"

Alex looked away, attempting to turn her head as she moved her eyes, only to find it wrenched back around in his cruel grip.

"I'll not suffer to have a wife who displays shrewishness. You will learn to be the perfect wife or repent of it I swear. Now, let's begin shall we?"

Alex looked at him with incomprehension for a moment, unable to work out what exactly he meant by 'begin'. She stared at the jowly flaccid face and tried for the millionth time not to breathe in the overpowering odour of stale sweat and hair powder that surrounded him. Between the smell, his advances and the certainty that she was going to have to marry him, Alex wondered how she hadn't become completely sick to the stomach already. Torn from attempting to control her gag reflex she realised with horror that he had managed to get his hand up her skirt and was currently navigating the terrain of her myriad petticoats with a practised ease.

"Don't you fucking dare!" she yelled as his hand snaked ever closer to its goal between her legs. Mackintosh reared back as if slapped, his meaty face becoming flushed then splotchy with distaste, at her use of profanity.

"What did you say?" he gaped, genuinely shocked. "I've never heard the like! And you supposedly a lady!"

Spittle flying from his mouth in his indignation, hit Alex in the face and fighting off the urge to retch again she came to the conclusion that there wasn't much more to be lost in this situation.

"Oh, haven't you?" she smiled with mocking sweetness. "Then open your ears because you're about to hear more. Get your filthy hands off me you fu-mmmpphhhh!"

Evidently he wanted no more evidence of his betrotheds filthy tongue as his meaty hand clapped, with no pretence of gentleness, over her mouth and he thrust his other hand up her skirts once more. The force with which he pressed her head back made her fear her neck might snap if she struggled too much and she tried in vain to gain purchase with her hands, scrabbling against his silk jacket as she attempted to push him off.

The realisation that he might very well succeed in his aims, however, spurred Alex to even more vigorous fighting. Infuriatingly, yet predictably, this merely made him relish his task all the more.

Fantastic, an archetypal leering villain! Alex had a sudden flash of him twiddling a long dark moustache as he laughed evilly and incongruously it almost made her laugh. Almost, that is, until a particularly vicious tweak off her inner thigh made her gasp in pain and shock and renew her struggles. It was at times like this that she wished her brain would just behave normally.

He had just managed to force her legs apart with his knees when, with a shout from outside of "Stand there, stand if you please," the carriage rocked to a somewhat abrupt halt. They tumbled off the seat and Alex screamed in pain as his weight on top of her ground her back into the floor of the carriage, the sound effectively muffled by his hand, still over her mouth, his weight threatening to crush her and the multitude of travelling cloaks and blankets which had also fallen on top of them both.

"You bloody idiot!" came an uncouth northern voice. "What did the Guv say? It's stand and deliver you half-wit! A mewling child could remember it!"

"Oh, erm,…stand and deliver my good man."

"Bloody imbecile!" snorted the second voice, before rising in volume, evidently being directed now at the coachman. "Stand and deliver! Come down from there, you aren't paid enough to take a musket ball in the stomach I'd wager! Down you step, that's the way. And we'll have your master out as well. D'ye hear me in there? Out you come sir. It won't take us but a minute to lighten your load then we can all be on our way." This last was accompanied by a drumming on the side of the carriage and a pair of eyes peeping over the window sill. "Out you come now sir!"

There was a brief pause then the sound of the coachman climbing down from his seat atop the vehicle. In the darkness beneath the blankets and cloaks which had fallen, almost obscuring her entire person Alex waited for Mackintosh's weight to be removed from her. She was surprised when he didn't immediately move but seemed to be fumbling around in one of the cloaks atop her.

"Out you come sir," the voice rang out again. "Be assured you don't wish me to send in young Christopher here to get you. He has a bad wont for discharging his weapon accidentally and who knows where he'd manage to hit you!"

This seemed to mobilise Mackintosh and uncovering her face he glared down at Alex, ordering her to remain hidden, before kissing her brutally. Not a token of love she knew, but a promise that their business was not concluded. After rummaging in a box under the seat for a second he stood, half crouched, in the limited space and she saw him tuck a long-barrelled pistol into the back of his breeches before using the toe of his boot to flick the blanket back over her head. Chivalry? Or just a desire to keep _some _of his 'goods' for himself? Despite the claustrophobic feeling the blanket brought on, Alex thought that hidden in the mound of fabric was probably the safest place to be right now. Safe, should those eyes peep over the sill again, she began breathing deeply in an effort to calm herself. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. She'd been agitated enough by the events of the day so far and that horrible old letch, without being robbed at gunpoint too!

"Now then sir, if you'll hand over your purse and anything else of value about your person, and you too driver, Christopher will go aback of the coach and check your trunks and baggage, see if we can't lighten that load for you too."

With much grumbling and protestations that they'd be 'held to account for this' Alex heard the chink as Mackintosh finally capitulated and handed over a considerably bulging purse. A purse which she knew contained her jewellery, and a ring her mother had given her. She briefly wondered why he'd given up his money, why hadn't he drawn the damn pistol? Of course! She realised that he must be waiting for the one called Christopher to go to the back of the vehicle, even up the odds a little. Well, just because he was spineless enough to pay them off with _her_ goods didn't mean _she_ had to lie here and take it! With a start Alex realised that most of their baggage was actually _in_ the carriage with her. How long would it take before they realised and decided to search inside for more loot? They _might_ not find her if she stayed hidden under the material but she wasn't about to risk it. She had to move.

This was it. She could either lie here and play the victim, take whatever might come her way as she'd been forced to do already or she could take her fate into her own hands. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been permitted to make a decision for herself and it was really starting to irk her. She was tired, sore and growing increasingly angry as she thought over the treatment she had received from her father. By the time she'd left his study in the certainty that there was no help for her situation, that she must marry Mackintosh, she'd thought her heart would break. Was almost certain her father _had_ broken her. Gone was the spirited, opinionated woman she'd been discovering she was since her accident. She'd been well and truly put in her place and had miserably gone off to pack her things with barely a whisper.

She supposed she should be thankful that Mackintosh _was_ such an old letch. It was fighting him off that had brought back some of the Alex she felt she was meant to be. The men could all go hang. She'd had enough of it. Just who did they think they were to treat her like a piece of property, worse, like a part of their livestock collection! Father or not he had no right, she felt it in her bones; he shouldn't have the right! Well, they'd pushed her too far, one way or another it was going to end here and now. Stealthily she moved to put into action the plan that had been formulating while her ire rose.

Skelton had just managed to undo the clasp on the one trunk which was secured outside, when a shot rang out, closely followed by another, telling Skelton that they were not the only ones armed in this hold-up. Damnation! They'd sworn to the Guv that they could handle this one in recompense for the farce of the night before and here they were possibly about to be chased off by armed victims again!

Lifting his own weapon he cautiously peered around the side of the carriage, relieved to see that while both men's guns smoked, Carling was still standing. The same could not be said for the toff, who was slumped against the wheel, blood pouring from a wound in his thigh. The driver did not appear to be armed and Skelton felt his shoulders relax a little. Carling was already moving to secure his victims pistol before he could shoot again and Skelton took a step forward, his gun wavering between the gentleman and driver, covering his fellow brigand while he retrieved the gun.

One more cautious step forward and Skelton had almost rounded the side of the carriage when he was suddenly pulled up short by the feel of cold metal, pressed against the base of his skull. A feminine, cultured voice spoke softly in his ear.

"I'll be taking your weapon thank you very much," a distinctly female hand reached forward and Alex took his gun, immediately jamming its barrel into his back.

"Oi Skelton," Carling still had his eyes firmly fixed on the two men they were holding up, "hurry up and come over 'ere and help me seize the goods. Seems like we ought to take what we can and leave. The stupid bugger made me shoot him in the sodding leg and I don't fancy hanging if he bleeds to death, the sooner we're away the better."

"Move!" Alex hissed in Chris's ear as she prodded him with both guns, urging him fully out into the open.

"You," Carling was ordering the coachman, "get those rings off him and hand them to me."

"Leave them John," Alex ordered in a clear, authoritative voice that made all except Skelton turn to look at her.

The bewildered coachman looked from Lady Alexandra to Carling, unsure which order to obey. Before he could make up his mind Alex continued, directing her speech to Carling.

"I've got two pistols, ready to blow holes in your friend here and I've had just about enough today of men thinking they can do as they please and take what they want. I will not have a moment's hesitation in blowing the pair of you to kingdom come if you don't do EXACTLY as I say."

Carling looked entirely confused at this turn of events. The very idea of a woman, any woman, giving out orders like this, was something that he simply could not comprehend. The correct course of action just would not present itself to his muddled brain and he gaped like a fish as Alex turned her wrist to show him the gun at Skelton's head, evidencing that she wasn't bluffing.

"I mean it!" she raged. "I'm hanging by a very thin thread here and if you make me shoot your friend I guarantee I'll follow it up by shooting you. And if I have to shoot you, you won't die quickly. It will be somewhere guaranteed to oblige you to lie here slowly bleeding to death, in desperate agony. If I were you, I'd put that gun and my fiancé's down right now and kick them right off the side of the road where they're not going to cause us any further problem."

One look into Alex's slightly crazed eyes and Carling decided he'd best do as she said. Reluctantly he placed the guns on the ground. He briefly thought about disobeying her second instruction, hoping she wouldn't notice and he could arm himself once more if she became distracted. Alex was sharper than that though and at a meaningful glare from her he kicked the weapons into the dewy grass where the moisture would make sure that the powder was in no condition to fire at any forthcoming moment.

"Good," she breathed, her voice relaxing a little but her grip on the guns staying at tight as ever. "Now, reach into the carriage and pull out one of the linens or blankets that are strewn about in there. Tear a strip off it and tie it tight around the gentleman's leg."

With a face like sour milk Carling moved to obey her, muttering under his breath as he did so. "Bloody idiot. What kind of a moll gets himself captured by a bloody woman? If she doesn't bloody shoot him I sodding well will. It'll be a mercy rather than what the Guv will do to us!"

Shaking his head at the sheer idiocy of his companion Carling reached into the carriage and pulled out a linen sheet from the jumble. Through narrowed eyes Alex watched him, wary in case he should suddenly pull a blade or some other weapon from about his person. Briefly, she wondered why she was going to this trouble to have her 'fiancé' strapped up. Heaven knew that she'd be better off if he were no longer a factor but damn it all, she seemed to have this core of bloody humanity that wouldn't allow her to abandon an injured person. Besides, she wasn't certain how she was going to incapacitate the robbers for long enough to make her escape. Having them see to Mackintosh's wounds bought her some thinking time.

"Right good that's it." She instructed, "Now, don't tie it on top of the wound, tie it above, it'll restrict the blood…."

Alex screamed in pain as someone or something attempted to separate her hair from her scalp, it felt like the raking of demon claws screaming along the skin at her skull. Her head jerked back sharply and she suddenly felt the smooth coldness of a gun muzzle at her temple.

"I don't know what you might be thinking the game is here, but there's only one person gives orders to my men luv, and it most definitely isn't a bloody woman."

**Please, please, please (yes this is shameless begging)let me know if you're still enjoying it because I'm scared I lost everyone by taking so long!**


	7. The Great Escape

**Ok, so I'm apologising for the delay again – although I don't think it's as long as the last one! Anyhoo, here is the next chapter.**

**Just to refresh your memory Gene had just come up behind Alex and put a gun to her head – how will she get out of this one?**

**A little disclaimer – Gene is not very nice in this fic….yet! Please don't get annoyed over his or anyone else's behaviour!**

**The Great Escape**

Held at gunpoint, Alex knew that she should have been terrified but, and this was a but she could not even begin to fathom, what she actually felt, was utterly and all-consumingly angry as hell. His low growl at her ear, even the derogatory reference to women seemed to strike a dissonant chord within her. With a deep breath, her chin set in determination she slowly raised her left foot and moved her right arm forward. Without stopping to think, and with all the force she could muster she drove her elbow back hard into his stomach. The hand he was holding the gun with dropped as he staggered a little but he had only just time to realise he was winded when her foot stamped hard on his own. Alex spun round quickly, using his surprise to her advantage and pulled her arm back, fist clenched ready to knock his block off.

Above the black silken cloth that covered the lower half of his face, surprised blue eyes stared at her flushed and furious face. Their effect on Alex was instantaneous and bewildering for all involved. In seconds she transformed from whirling dervish to perplexed and confused as her eyes searched his.

"Y-you…..I…who are you?" she gazed at him in utter astonishment, not certain in the slightest why he was having this effect on her, her fist still drawn back but forgotten for now in her utter bafflement.

*I know you don't I?" she questioned, uncertainly.

This seemed to throw the Guv too for a moment and he looked hard at her. Visibly recovering himself, the corners of his eyes suddenly crinkled, belying the less than pleasant grin taking shape beneath his mask.

"I think you're mistaken," he answered carefully, "but I've no objection to letting you 'get to know me' if you catch my meaning!"

Alex's confused expression cleared as suddenly as it had come on as the lewd meaning of his words dawned on her, and her countenance became once again one of fury and indignation. Noting this the Guv decided to have a little more sport at her expense.

"Although, I feel bound to say, that having got a good look at you I imagine I'd be wiser to take a pox-ridden whore to my bed than a whining, over-indulged, totty-headed ladybird like you!"

After the events of her day so far this was too much for Alex. Who exactly did this buffoon think he was anyway? How dare he call her such names when he claimed not to have her acquaintance at all. Worst of all though, why was he having the effect he was on her? Her breathing was coming in harsh gasps and a warmth was spreading across her chest and other areas with disconcerting speed. Her anger at him and her bodies reaction, built almost beyond reason as she stepped forward, their noses almost touching not sure whether to give him a tongue lashing or revert to her initial plan of a good sock to the mouth.

"So," he breathed, low and heavy, "What's it to be? I can tell your womanhood is stirring, is it to be blows or kisses?"

Her reply was swift and took him and the rest of the gang, who had been watching this exchange with interest, entirely by surprise. Her still drawn-back fist swung with more force than he would have credited and caught him square on the chin. It was the follow-up jab, however, which sent him staggering backwards, his mask now askew revealing half of his face. The punches had seemed to break whatever spell was over them both and as he staggered he shouted to his men to grab her before she managed to get hold of a gun or run off.

Stirring themselves from their stunned disbelief at anyone, not least a woman, managing to lay two punches on the Guv , Carling and Skelton rushed to Alex and just as she had reached her own fallen duelling pistol. Looking aroud in panic Alex saw with dismay that Carling had knocked out John the coachman with one blow as he made for her, no help would be forthcoming from that quarter then!

"I'll be having that," grinned Skelton grabbing the weapon and waving it teasingly in front of her whilst Carling caught her arms and pinned them roughly to her sides.

"Got 'er Guv." Carling sounded positively gleeful. "And her gentleman has obligingly passed out too along of his coachman so we'll have no trouble from that quarter. Do you want that I should hold her still while you teach her her manners?"

Alex struggled wildly at this, her experiences thus far assuring her that she wanted no part of this man's 'lessons'. Now, having regained his balance and a little of his composure the Guv stalked towards her, eyes flashing. This was it, Alex realised, ceasing her futile struggles. She would meet this villain and his revenge looking him square in the face, he wouldn't have the satisfaction of seeing any of the emotion he had engendered fearful or otherwise. His eyes raked up and down her in a way that Alex found very familiar and she listened distractedly to his heavy breathing, as he thought for a moment before issuing his next order.

"We don't have time for this. Tie her to the coach-wheel and let's be gone. If we've any fortune some wild animal or rat will come along and tear a few chunks from her flesh before another human being encounters her."

With utter shock Alex realised that this casual dismissal of her and her fate, this plan to discard her and leave her to the mercy of whatever or whoever might come along, caused a feeling of loneliness and helplessness that made no sense in her current position. She should be glad they were leaving her alone but this incomprehensible feeling remained. For what felt like the millionth time she looked hard at what she could see of this mans face.

"Take off your mask," she said quietly.

"Did you just speak to me?" he questioned.

"Yes." There was still a strange calm to her voice though she chewed at her bottom lip between sentences. " I said, take off your mask."

"Listen, sweetheart, you might be used to giving out the orders in your big fancy house but I don't think you quite understand your position right now lady, I give the bloody orders round here and no-one else!"

"Take it off," she demanded in stronger tones, not even flinching as his face moved dangerously close to hers again. "I know you. I'm sure of it. Those eyes, that accent…..your insolence….." Alex gasped in recognition but even as she spoke she knew she was still missing something. "You were at my father's dinner! You're the insolent one!"

To his credit the Guv recovered rather quickly from this unexpected announcement. He'd hoped she wasn't going to work out who he was.

"What are you muttering about woman?" he gruffed. "Mad as a box of frogs this one!"

"'Ere, is that where you were the other night Guv?" Skelton clearly had a death wish and no idea of when to leave matters well alone. "Having dinner at some rich dandy's house?...Oh, was it one of your scoutin…UNF!"

At his bosses indication Carling had left off his hold on Alex and punched Skelton in the stomach, causing him to double up and groan, collapsing onto the dusty road but having the desired effect of shutting him up.

"Shut yer bloody mouth you paper skulled nocky boy!" The Guv growled at Skelton as he took Carling's place grabbing Alex and pinning her arms to her sides. "It's bad enough she knows who I am without you running yer bloody mouth about all my business! Carling, go and get that luggage strap off the big trunk there. We need to make sure of what this hellcat of a woman knows or remembers about me, _then_ we'll decide what's to be done with her!"

Alex paled. His grip on her arms was so tight as to be painful and she didn't like the thought of how that thick, heavy luggage strap might figure in 'finding out what she knew'! Her mind raced, she needed to stop merely reacting things and try to form some kind of plan. How was she going to escape this situation? She didn't actually recall anything about this man, other than his insolence and the way he'd compared her to livestock but she had a nagging feeling there was more. She shuddered to think however, how much damage they might do in the process of discovering her complete lack of knowledge of them and their business.

Moving in front of her to bind her hands with a length of linen hastily retrieved from where Carling had done a hotch-potch job of tying a tourniquet, the Guv was confused to see a slow smile cross his captives face.

"Stop!" There she went again, using that commanding tone. She clearly _was_ as mad as a box of frogs! Why else would she have any earthly reason to suppose that these men would do her bidding? Her tone so annoyed him that he was exceedingly rough in pulling her wrists together and he tied them rather more tightly than was strictly necessary.

"Now, you listen here Lady Alexandra," he barked at her, "no woman has ever dared to hit me before, and no woman including you will ever have chance to try it again. You look about insane enough to have at it again and I can do without the distraction thank you. You've embarrassed me in front of my men, which would be reason enough for what you're about to get but you also know too much about me for me to just leave you here. When I'm done, you'll be telling me everything you know about me and any other information I need from you, I assure you of that."

At this point Carling handed the heavy strap to the Guv and moving behind her grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, his fingers biting into her flesh, lest she get any ideas about trying to run away, bound hands notwithstanding.

"Now, you can either tell me willingly, or this here strap is going to loosen your tongue for you."

Alex attempted to back up as the Guv grinned and flexed the leather between his hands but was met with the solid wall of Carling at her back, now also grinning at her obvious fear.

"Turn her around Carling," ordered the Guv.

"No! Stop!"

"How many times woman? You don't give the orders round here. Carling turn her!"

"No you don't understand!" Alex sounded unsure of herself for the first time so far and it was this more than anything that stayed his hand for the moment. "I…I have a proposition!"

She knew it was no good, Carling was turning her even as she fought against him. Not needing it's cover any longer the Guv had discarded his highwayman's mask and he bore a more determined expression on his grim tight-lipped face than she had seen so far. Her heart sank as she realised that men were going to keep doing things like this to her and she seemed to be unable to prevent it no matter what she did. She was just about ready to give in to the urge to weep over her situation when she saw an angel emerge from a wooded hill at the roadside. The filthy, disreputable looking, dark-haired girl running toward them was as unlikely an angel as anyone could imagine but she was Alex's saviour at this moment. She came hurtling toward them screaming like a harridan and her appearance had a galvanising effect on the men.

"Guv, Guv!" yelled Shaz, "There's an 'ole _train_ of carriages coming! Guv you can't stay here. They're just over the 'ill. They'll be upon us before you can shake a leg! We need to go!"

"Your lucky day!" Carling leaned forward to leer with menace in her face. "The Guv was going to give it to you right good! Guess he'll just have to get rid of yer now!"

"Carling gag her will you?" called the Guv, making for his horse. Carling looked like he was about to ask did the Guv not just want him to slit her throat but thought better of such insubordination in such trying circumstances and did as he was bid.

In seconds, the Guv was back, leading his horse and barking orders at his men to gather any and all valuables they could before making for their horses.

"And get that 'lady' over my horse. We can't leave her here. Is she gagged? Good – can't have her screaming neither!"

Alex was lifted face-down in front of the saddle before she'd had time to take in what was happening and the Guv swung swiftly up behind her. Not being held for the first time and with her wits back about her somewhat, she realised that this was undoubtedly her best chance at escape. Frantically she began to kick her legs, in an effort to wriggle herself backwards off the side of the horse. She just hoped her bound hands, now hanging down the other side, didn't snag on anything on the way down. She ceased her kicking abruptly as a sharp, burning sting flooded across her upturned backside.

"Give over you little fool!" the Guv cursed, giving her another hefty wallop with the reins which he had gathered in his hands. "You'll have us both off! Hold still!"

The horse, a flighty animal borrowed from the inn decided to back-up the Guv at this point. It danced worryingly and seemed ready to buck or rear at any moment, unaccustomed as it was to having wriggling thrashing loads over it's back. The anger in the Guvs voice as he fought to control animal and woman wasn't helping it's temperament either!

Seeing the horses feet prance in panic and ready to lift to a rear Alex decided to listen for once. There was bound to be another chance to escape. She might even be able to get him to listen to her proposition if she didn't get herself dashed under the horse's hooves first!

Seeing her relax the Guv spoke in gentle whispers to the horse, leaning across her to whisper in it's ear as if she were no more than a sack of flour he was transporting and causing Alex to squeal into her gag at the pressure on her back. With the animal sufficiently calmed the Guv sat up, reined the horse round and took off at a gallop with his seemingly more compliant prisoner now hanging limply in front of him.


	8. Bloody Men

**I should probably just stop apologising for taking so long – I really do try to get these chapters out quicker I swear but life is pretty damn demanding just now and something always gets in my way. As always I will try my best to be quicker next time. Please please please let me know what you think. -As always, no beta so any and all overlooked errors are mine - my fingers can't keep up with my brain!**

Chapter 8

Watching the ground and the horse's front hooves flashing by beneath her, Alex choked back a scream. Much good it would do her anyway gagged as she was and flung like a bag of grain over the highwayman's horse. Technically lucky to be alive, she felt anything but. In the past few days, her life had careened so rapidly from one desperate situation to another, that Alex had lost all ability to pinpoint which were the frying pans and which the fires. One thing she _was_ certain of though, was that this brute wasn't allowing her to live out of charity, sympathy or anything approaching chivalry. He seemed to want answers. Answers to questions she didn't even understand and that could very well find her dead by morning. He seemed determined to beat something out of her and heaven knew if she had anything to tell him she'd gladly do so; any warmth of feeling she might ever have had for her father was definitely extinct now and frankly she'd take any chance presented to drop him in any muck she could. Unfortunately for her, she really did know nothing that she could think would be of any importance.

Terror gripped her anew as she watched the ground fly by, realising that one little slip and she'd be under the horses hooves. Without warning her body began to shake with a ferocity that astonished her. Beginning at the pit of her stomach, from the very core of her, the tremors washed outwards, tsunami like, engulfing her entire torso and slamming through all four limbs.

'My body has gone into shock. I need fluids.' The thought flitted away as quickly as it had arrived and the painful,body-wracking trembling continued, causing her to groan and whimper as she shook.

"Whoaa there, whoa girl, settle down beast." At first Alex thought her captor was speaking to her, then she realised through her fog of confusion that he was talking to the horse. The violence of her shaking was having an extremely disquieting effect on the animal and the highwayman was fighting once more to stop her rearing. Seeing that she wasn't about to calm down whilst Alex still shook upon her back, the Guv reluctantly rode off the road into the woods that lined their route. Stopping a little way in, he swung down pulling Alex over and off the horse as he went.

"You need to calm yourself." He gritted, holding her by the arms and shaking her roughly, glaring into her face; in the rapidly darkening twilight, made all the dimmer by the coverage of the trees, he moved his face close to hers causing her to flinch away from him. "Do you understand me?"

Still shaking Alex nodded miserably.

"I won't let you fall off, I swear it. I'm not bloody letting you go until we've had a conversation, but you're spooking the horse and this delay is dangerous. Believe you me, you do not want to be found in my company should I be caught and linked to what transpired at your conveyance just now. I'll sell you out for a whore without a second thought, then neither your precious fiancé nor your father will have you back. Now, we're going to get back on and ride away from here fast, I will let you sit up if you think that will help?"

Alex nodded, the shaking beginning to subside somewhat as she held out her bound hands for him to untie so that she might climb up onto the front of the saddle.

"Do you I look feeble-minded to you?" he sneered. "You won't be getting untied any time soon m'lady. Now get up." With no further pleasantries he half hoisted half pushed her into position and climbed up behind her. A new fit of shaking caused him to mutter an exceedingly rude oath and pull her hard back against him. Alex cried out behind her gag, the cry cut short as her body finally gave in and dropped her unceremoniously into unconsciousness. Cursing again and unfavourably weighing up her trouble against her worth, Gene balanced her floppy weight against him and spurred the horse quickly to a gallop, trying to ignore the sweet smell of rose-water that wafted from her hair and the somehow comfortable feeling of her in his arms. He needed to reach the inn safely where he was certain the landlord would vouch that he had not stirred from the establishment all day, were they to be pursued; he'd worry about the disquieting emotions she was stirring once he was on safe ground.

Twenty minutes later Gene swung into the courtyard of the inn, once again at the head of his gang, who clattered in on his heels. Lifting the still unconscious Alex into his arms he clambered rather inelegantly down from his horse. Jerking his head towards the reins he bade Skelton take the horses into the paddock behind the building. If anyone should have followed them this far they would doubtless check the stables and he wished them to find perfectly rested and calm horses there rather than their own foaming mounts. Dumping his load unceremoniously into a pile of straw by the stable door he grabbed a bucket, filled it with water from the horse trough and doused the lifeless lady in freezing cold water.

Gasping around her gag Alex woke up, fury once more burning in her eyes as she realised what he had done. Her eyes flashing fire at both the Guv and Carling who was all but rolling upon the ground with mirth. A flurry of imprecations spewed from her mouth, not one of them intelligible but their vehemence assuring Gene the fight had not gone completely from his prisoner. All the worse for her if she decided to be stubborn with it, yet he couldn't help but feel glad there was still some spirit in her, though heaven knew why it pleased him.

"Right!" he said, pulling her to her feet and dragging her into the blackness of the stables. It was almost full dark outside now and as he pulled her in, he unhooked a lantern from one of the stall posts. Handing it to Carling he ordered Shaz to go inside and retrieve a taper to light it by. As soon as Shaz had departed he grasped the linen tying Alex's wrists and lifted them above her head, hooking the fabric over the nail on which the lantern had hung, effectively attaching her to the stall post in a way disturbingly reminiscent of a criminal at a whipping post. Alex gritted her teeth and pressed her head against the cool wood of the post in front of her, trying not to give them the satisfaction of seeing her shiver in her wet clothes and praying for the strength to survive whatever they decided to do.

Moving by feel alone the Guv located the knot at the back of her head and untied the gag. Alex fought back her urge to call him all manner of unflattering names; she really wasn't in a position to argue right now. She had to try a different tack.

"Please," she blurted, "please listen to me….."

"Aww hark at that Guv," Carling mocked, "She's learnt her manners already, and I was looking forward so much to us teaching them to her."

"Shut up!" Alex barked, she should be terrified but Carling in particular seem to inspire the most intense feeling of annoyance. "I'm talking to the organ grinder not the bloody monkey."

"The what?" both men's voices sounded more than a little bewildered. Alex had no more idea than they did what that had meant but now wasn't the time to dwell.

"I have a proposition for you!" she cried urgently as she felt the Guv move forward, his hands beginning to search for the pins at the back of her dress, no doubt ready to undress her top half in order to begin his interrogation. She couldn't let him. There wasn't the slightest chance she could tell him anything and she severely doubted she could take a beating from him.

The Guv laughed a full-throated guffaw of a laugh.

"Hark at _that_ Carling," he sneered. "She thinks she's in a position to make demands and propositions!"

"If yer about to offer us a ride between yer thighs sweetheart yer'd be as well holding yer tongue." Carling growled, continuing with relish, "I'm sure once the Guv is done with yer we'll all be making yer acquaintance. Yer won't be able ter walk….."

"Carling. Stop your noise. No-one is going to be taking advantage of her. What do yer think this is?"

"For Gods sakes, will you just listen to me!" Alex interrupted, she had nothing to lose, she _must_ make them listen. "I don't know what you want me to tell you but I swear I wasn't lying, I don't know anything about you, or any business you might have with my father. I don't even remember your name you bloody idiot...!"

"Watch your tongue m'lady." Gene growled, moving in closer and ripping the back of her dress open heedless of pins or tearing fabric. "I'm not inclined to hear any proposition from you. I don't trust you and I don't trust your family…"

"Neither do I!" Alex almost screamed. "That's what I'm trying to tell you. I hate my father, I have no love or loyalty or feeling for him other than loathing. If I could tell you something that would be to his detriment I'd be singing it out right now. I hate him and I want no part of him in my life. Don't you see? Now you have me it's perfect. We can both benefit. Send him a ransom note. He'll not want his family's good name sullied. Promise him you won't hurt or dishonour me if he pays. Then when he pays up to save face, instead of giving me back we can split the money. I'll take my share and go to the colonies, I've heard that women can go there and set up boarding houses, make their own way. I'd never be a problem to you again and you'd have his money. That's what you want isn't it? I mean…"

"Stop your prattling." Gene thundered. "What manner of man do you take me for? Do you think I'm as foolish as a babe in arms? That sounds like exactly the plan your father would have set you up to propose. And he'd only have done that if he knew something about me. And if _he _knew enough to prepare you with this little deceit on the chance that we might meet again, he must have told you. You'll not fool me so easily you little gilflurt. I _will_ have it out of you, mark me I will!"

With that he moved forward and in the ever growing darkness, fumbled for the laces at the back of her stays, the last piece of fabric concealing the flesh of her back. Unable to see what he was doing it took him a moment to realise that the laces were already undone.

"Ooho!" he exclaimed pulling the stays wide open and chuckling at the way Alex jumped and hissed when his knuckles brushed her hot skin. "And what exactly were you and m'lord Mackintosh at in your carriage then? Clearly you're not a lady who waits for the wedding ring before she opens her legs. Seems we interrupted the pair of you rutting like animals."

"No, you don't understand." Alex pleaded. "Think about it. Why would my dress still be pinned if that were the case? He…..he tried but….."

Gene wasn't listening.

"Where's that girl with the light!"

As if summoned by his snarl Shaz appeared around the corner into the stable with the taper and Carling hurried forward to light the lantern.

"Mary Magdalene!" Shaz had gone white to her lips as the lantern flared and the light flooded the stable. She stared at Alex, now completely visible, wrists secured above her head, back exposed.

"Oh….." the wind dropped out of the Guv's sails and even Carling gulped and swallowed as they took in the utter devastation and mess where the smooth skin of Alex's back should have been. "What in blazes…"

"I tried to tell you!" Alex sagged against the post, bitterness and defeat in her tone. "They did this to me - both of them. I refused to marry that odious man and my father said that I needed to understand the way of things. That the knock I had had on my head had scrambled my brains but that I could be made to obey. He had that man hold me down on his desk and he used his riding crop. It went on and on until I begged for him to stop."

Shaz, the Guv and Carling all stared, eyes riveted on the mess of welts, bruising and blood, all of them stunned for the moment. The Guv couldn't believe that such damage could have been wrought with a simple crop. She must have been flogged until her back was covered in bruises and welts and then flogged some more for the skin to swell and break the way it had. Criss-crossing all over the visible flesh were vivid red welts, some turning purple, all surrounded by dark forming bruises and in at least ten places the skin had broken completely. At least two of these broken areas were split wide open and bleeding even as they looked on. No wonder she'd squealed into her gag as he'd manhandled her and leant on her back to quiet the horse. No wonder she'd passed out when he'd hauled her into a sitting position and yanked her back against him. Every movement must have been agony!

"I was ashamed to beg but I couldn't take any more." Alex confessed. Now that she'd begun talking, remembering, the tears and words were flowing freely. "Only, it didn't stop. I thought it had but then they changed position. My father held me and that man went at me even harder. I passed out and they forced brandy down my throat so that I woke choking with my throat burning then he started again. I cried out and cried out but no-one came…"

Alex sobbed and tried to look back over her shoulder at her captors, wincing as the movement caused the skin on her back to shift and air to move over the exposed cuts.

"So you see, I have no feeling for my father. He beat it out of me then sent me away to be raped and used by that man."

Shaz stifled a cry behind her hand, she'd seen some sights in her time but this was a brutality that shocked even her; and from gentry too! The Guv and Carling exchanged a look.

"Well, it'll not take much to get the truth out of her." Carling shrugged reaching for the strap which Gene had retrieved from the saddle bag where he'd hastily shoved it earlier.

"Have you taken leave of your senses?" The Guv roared snatching the strap out of Carling's reach before throwing it into a dark corner of the stable. "I'm not laying a hand on her in that state. We're lucky we haven't killed her already!"

"But Guv….."

"Not another word Carling," the Guv snapped. "Yer a disgraceful excuse for a man. Get out of my sight."

Swiftly, he stepped over to Alex who had given in to the wracking sobs, almost her whole body weight hanging from the ties around her wrists. Seeing that it would most likely be incredibly painful to do up her dress, and realising why her stays had been unlaced, Gene removed his own jacket and gently unhooked her hands before putting the dark blue, silver buttoned coat around her shoulders.

"Th….thank you." Alex looked up at him, her face seemed to consist entirely of large green tear-filled eyes.

"Mmmpph!" Gene garumphed, "I'm not saying as I trust you. I just try not to kill people if I can help it and half the job has been done as far as I can see. I believe you've no liking for your father but that doesn't mean you aren't his agent sent to do his dirty work. I guess we're obliged to keep your company until you're healed enough for me to question you properly."

Alex smiled ruefully, she should have known.

"You're really paranoid aren't you?" she questioned.

"Are you accusing me of having some disease?" he demanded, eyes narrowed.

"No, I…..I don't think so. I don't quite know what I meant…" Alex eyes filled with tears again. Really, her mind playing its usual tricks was the last thing she needed just now. Sniffing and hiccupping she was determined to make her point. "I know I mean you no harm though and you're soft-headed if you think otherwise."

"Don't mistake me for a chivalrous man Lady Alexandra." Gene rumbled, attempting even as he spoke to pick her up in a way that would put as little pressure on her back as possible. "You'll stay along of us until I'm sure of you one way or another. For the present though, you are going to bed. Shaz!"

He gave up trying to carry her as every movement made her wince and look to be about to swoon.

"Shaz rouse yerself lass and help me get her up to bed."

Alex was only hazily aware of passing through a warm room which smelled of gin and wood smoke and men; of tumbling up a dark staircase and being laid gently on her front in a straw mattressed bed.

"Sleep well." Gene stood at the door and murmured watching her sleep the sleep of utter exhaustion, her head tuned away from him, dark curls tumbling loose from their pins. "We'll speak in the morning m'lady, never you fear."


End file.
